Fathers of Marines Thank Rush;Democrats Undermine Their Kids

CALLER: Hey, Rush, real quick, I have a 17-year-old son who's a senior in high school, and he just enlisted in the Marines and he's heading off to Camp Pendleton this July. And he's raised some concerns and questions to me about the politics of the funding of the war.

RUSH: Wait a second. I hate to be ignorant about this, but is he going to turn 18 before he's deployed?

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: We had to sign for him. He'll be 18 in June and he leaves in July.

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: But, Rush, here's my direct question for you. I'd like to know your take on the signal that these Democrats are sending to these new recruits.

RUSH: Oh, I think the signal that they're sending to the new recruits is the same signal that they're sending to the current fighting force, and is the same signal that they are sending to our enemies overseas, that they can be counted on to secure defeat, if given the chance. They own defeat, Mark. Look it, it's worse than that. They can't permit victory politically. They simply cannot. They are so far out now from over the edge that even if there is victory, they can't even lay any claim to it or even say that they had a role and played any assistance in it. It's not that they're wedded to it now. For their political future, we must lose, and they must bring that about. I'll tell you what, your son is very perceptive, and all you need to do is see this smiling picture of Nancy Pelosi announcing this vote victory last Friday in the House of Representatives. The main thrust of that bill is to quit, to give up and lose by March 31st of 2008, and there she is just smiling like she's never been happier.

CALLER: Rush, it's even come home to my wife and I knowing what he's up against, but we've encouraged him. He's had a lifelong dream of being a Marine, and we told him every day, "Hey, we're proud of you. You have a lot of family members that are proud of you. The nation is proud of you." Rush, probably all the listeners out there right now on this program are proud of all these people going in.

RUSH: Oh, there's no question about it. Is your son...? Now, I know some people that are stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they admit that they're affected by it. Sometimes their morale is down, but it doesn't affect the way they do their jobs. Your son is to be admired here. He's 17, and this is his dream, and he wants to do it. Here's another thing to consider. These people are not just against victory. They are against the military. The worst thing that can happen for them is military success. Your son obviously picks up on that but it hasn't changed his mind, has it? They haven't convinced him to give it up?

CALLER: Rush, he wants to serve his country like there's no tomorrow. You know, it's amazing his mind at 17 years old, and we're proud of him. Rush, hey, it's always great to talk to you. If I could just give you one more closing comment, if you don't mind? I know the call screener said there is a timeline here.

RUSH: Well, go ahead. The call screener is second in power to me.

CALLER: Hey, Rush, there have been two people in my life who have been a great influence, yourself and President Reagan, and I'm on business, and I had to stop at a small town in Illinois called Eureka, Illinois. I don't know if you know the significance of Eureka.

RUSH: Yeah, certainly I do. I'm host. I understand these things.

CALLER: That's right. The alma mater of President Ronald Reagan.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: So to be in that town and talk to you is just a great day. I appreciate your comments, and God bless you, man. Thanks so much, Rush.

RUSH: Wait. Before you go, I'm going to ask some questions.

CALLER: Sure.

RUSH: Your son is 17. I'm sure you've heard this, and it may be painful for me to bring it up, but I want to bring it up and get your answer. The Democrats and their allies in the media have said that people like your son don't really, really want to join the Army or the Air Force, the Marines, and the Navy. They just have no future. The economy in the country is pretty bad. They come from broken down and poor families, and the only hope they have for having a future is to get out of the squalor in which they live and go put their lives on the line, and it's just not fair that the "sons and daughters of the rich" aren't there. All we get is hayseeds and hicks. I just want to know how you feel -- your son is so gung-ho -- when you hear that kind of thing these people say.

CALLER: You know, Rush, to answer that question honestly, and again after listening to you for about 18 years -- and again, I've been grounded very well on being a sales guy -- you have to have thick skin. He overlooks that. Again, I go back. I've got two kids, but my younger one has an incredible maturity to him, and he just finds his way. What I've told him, Rush, is, "When you go to boot camp it's going to be a really, really tough stint for those 13 weeks," and then going back, I said, "You're going to have to find your Rush Limbaugh to get through that." I've communicated to him. So, Rush, you hear that, and it's like you've trained me for all these years. You get over it, you overcome it, and you do the best you can every day. When I go to bed every night I can lay my head on the pillow and fall asleep and not worry about any of the surroundings, and he's on that same track maturity-wise.

RUSH: You know, I'm happy to hear that. That's a great attitude to have: if it's not true, let it bounce off.

CALLER: You got it.

RUSH: But one thing about boot camp. I appreciate that when you say, "Go get your Rush Limbaugh and get through it," but I have to tell you, I hate exercise. There is not a time in my life -- well, maybe when I was 18. But I couldn't get through boot camp now. Nobody my age could, or very few. People don't know. People that have no experience have no clue. They've seen movies about it, but that's about all they know.

CALLER: Rush, we had a dinner this past week in Elgin, Illinois, for all the recruits and they brought a drill instructor in, and --

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait! Who could afford that? You people are so poor and so forth.

CALLER: (Laughing.) Yeah. Well, we've been able to get through it, and again, Rush, I've had some actual successes in my life, and I've always taken the attitude that you've portrayed on a daily basis of being the best you can be and that has come true for me, and I still have some other things I'm trying to accomplish, and you have been very instrumental in those as I venture out and try to create what you call those silent millionaires that are trying to do what this great country has given us.

RUSH: A culture of the pursuit of excellence that, I'm telling you, has rubbed off on your son obviously and probably many more people than you even know. It's inspirational. Some will get jealous of it, but you probably positively affected more people than you'll ever know.

CALLER: I appreciate that, Rush, and I think you're probably number one in that category.

RUSH: Well, yeah, I agree.

CALLER: Okay. (Laughing.)

RUSH: (Laughing.) I'm trying to get better at taking compliments. Thank you for saying that, sir. I appreciate that.

CALLER: Okay, Rush, I appreciate it.

RUSH: All right. You bet, Mark. Have a good day.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: And to Kenner, Louisiana, this is Jim. Jim, thank you for calling. You're up next, sir.

CALLER: Hello, Rush. Mega dittos.

RUSH: Thanks.

CALLER: I was just calling in reference to this last gentleman who was on the phone. I also have a son who is now in the Marine Corps, who is now stationed -- well, he's actually in Mojave Viper learning desert training. He's out of Camp Lejeune, and they are scheduled to be deployed on April the 26th.

RUSH: Is he part of the surge, or is he going somewhere else?

CALLER: No, he's going to Ramadi. We already know where he's going.

RUSH: He's going to Ramadi. Okay.

CALLER: Right. The last gentleman was saying, the question was, how are actual Marines feeling about how Congress is treating them without giving them the money and all that.

RUSH: Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. How the Democrats in Congress.

CALLER: Excuse me. I'm sorry. Democrats. You're right. I was privileged to meet the group that my son is going overseas with. All of them, to a T, are saying that they are not happy that they're not getting what they need to do the job. If they would just let them go in and do the job, give them what they need, this could be over with.

RUSH: I totally understand this. How old is your son?

CALLER: He's 19.

RUSH: Your son is 19. If I'm 18, 19, 17, I volunteered for this. I'm joining the Marines. I want to be on the front lines. I want to be the first group in. I want to go to Iraq. Despite everything that's been said about this mission in the media, despite four years of the drumbeat of defeat and, "It's not possible," we still have young men like your son signing up for this all over the country. I have to believe that when they see what the Democrats in the House are doing and how they're smiling and gloating over securing what they think is defeat, I have to totally understand how they would be angered about this and fit to be tied. But the bottom line is: even after that, they still go, and I'll betcha they go even more fired up than otherwise.

CALLER: The group that he's with, they're engineers, and most of them have been already once or twice. He's one of the newbies in the group, and he's fired up. He's ready to go. He's actually training to do this. As a matter of fact, I spoke to him yesterday and he's just waiting for his turn to go.

RUSH: Well, it's unique and it's admirable. That's why I say people like your son are a different breed. They're a special breed. You're aware of the infinitesimal percentage of the people in this country who volunteer to do what your son is doing. Then when they do it, to have to listen to one political party of this country talk about how they can't wait for them to lose? It's gotta be mind-numbing, but still they go and still they try to prove these people wrong because of whatever it is their motivation -- and, you're right. Everybody in this country, the vast majority of people respect it, honor it, and appreciate it.

CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush.

RUSH: You bet. Thank you for the call. You know we react to this stuff in a normal human way, but imagine these people, these young men that sign up. They watch this debate and listen to all the things the Democrats say. To have it gleefully broadcast all over the media, the message, "We can't win. We're not good enough. We don't have what it takes. We don't deserve to win," blah, blah, blah, who are they talking about? They think they're talking about Bush. They're talking about enlisted personnel. They're talking about people that wear the uniform. They are insulting them, all the while trying to present this notion that they are supporting the troops and they're trying to save the troops and they're trying to protect the troops, and they're trying to deploy them and redeploy them and make them safer and so forth.

They're not buying this. The people that sign up for this duty are not looking for "safety" by definition. Can we speak bluntly? You don't sign up for the front lines and expect somebody to guarantee your safety! It's not why you do it. The Democrats try to camouflage what they're doing under that umbrella but nobody in the know buys any of that. It has to affect them, yet they still go. I wouldn't be surprised if it provides some sort of additional motivation for them. I'm telling you, folks, it's going to happen at some point. The Democrats are sowing the seeds of another landslide defeat somewhere down the road. I don't know if it will be 2008, but they are following in the footsteps of the sixties anti-war crowd that nominated McGovern and lost in a huge landslide to Nixon. They look back on that as one of their greatest periods in Democrat Party history, a landslide defeat, because they judge it in different ways. They got the country out of the war, and they got rid of Nixon and Watergate and so forth.

They're just using the same old playbook pages that are 50 and 30 years old and so forth. It's almost pornographic and obscene to watch these people after they succeed in this vote, how happy and gleeful they are. If you could put yourself in the position of people wearing the uniform hearing all this, the only previous time it happened was Vietnam, and look at the roiling that took place there. They're trying to differentiate one aspect of Vietnam in this, this constant lie about "supporting the troops." They actually send out notes to their fringe in the kook world out there, "Don't spit on soldiers in the airports." They actually do this, folks. "Make sure you don't spit on them when they come back." They can't control some of them, but they're trying that.